n 103d congress S.619 1st Session To amend the Social Security Act to provide improved services to beneficiaries under such Act, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES March 18 (legislative day, March 3), 1993 Mr. RiEGLE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend the Social Security Act to provide improved serv- ices to beneficiaries under such Act, and for other pur- poses. 1 Be it enacted hy the Senate and House ofRepresenta- 2 tives ofthe United States ofAmerica in Congress assembled, 3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. — 4 (a) Short Title. This Act may be cited as the 5 "Social Security Bill of Rights". — 6 (b) Table of Contents. The table of contents of 7 this Act is as follows: TITLE I—SERVICE IMPROVEMENTS Sec. 101. One-stop shopping for certain benefits. Sec. 102. Explicit requirements for maintenance of telephone access to local of- fices of the Social Security Administration. 2 Sec. 103. Restitution of funds misappropriated by representative payees. Sec. 104. Use of bilingual personnel and printed material in administration of programs. See. 105. Outreach program for seniors. Sec. 106. Provision of certain information on the OASI trust fund. Sec. 107. Improvement and clarification of provisions prohibiting misuse of symbols, emblems, or names in reference to social security pro- grams and agencies. TITLE II—WORK INCENTIVES FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES — Subtitle A ^Amendments Relating to Benefits Under Title XVI of the Social Security Act Sec. 201. Benefits for persons who lose social security disability benefits. Sec. 202. Inapplicabihty of spousal deeming under section 1619(b). Sec. 203. Exclusion from income under section 1619 of all costs of attendant care. Sec. 204. Disregard of cost-of-living adjustments under title II in determining medicaid eligibility under section 1619 if such a(^ustments would be the sole basis for ineligibility. Sec. 205. Elimination of the one-third reduction rule. Sec. 206. Increase in resource limits. Sec. 207. Reduction in the income and resources of a parent of a disabled child. Sec. 208. Effective date. — Subtitle B ^Advisory Committee on Criteria for Determining Disability Sec. 211. Advisory committee on criteria for determining disability. TITLE III—DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS TO PROVIDE FOR IM- PROVED PROCEDURES WITH RESPECT TO DISABILITY DETERMINATIONS, CONTINUING DISABILITY REVIEWS, AND REHABILITATION SERVICES Sec. 301. Demonstration projects under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act to provide rehabilitation services to individuals wthin cer- tain categories of disability. Sec. 302. Demonstration projects to improve review of disability determinations under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act. TITLE I—SERVICE 1 IMPROVEMENTS 2 3 SEC. 101. ONE-STOP SHOPPING FOR CERTAIN BENEFITS. — 4 (a) In General. Title XI of the Social Security Act 5 (42 U.S.C. 1301 et seq.) is amended by inserting after 6 section 1122 the following new section: •S 619 IS — 3 "use of social security administration offices to 1 2 apply for certain benefits 3 "Sec. 1123. (a) Establishment of Proce- — 4 dures. — 5 "(1) In general. Except as provided in para- 6 ^aph (2), not later than 1 year after the date of en- 7 actment of this section, the Secretary shall establish 8 procedures permitting individuals to apply for medi- 9 cal assistance under title XIX and for benefits under 10 the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 11 1981 in each office established by the Secretary to 12 receive applications to determine eligibility for bene- 13 fits under title XVIII. — 14 "(2) Exception. Paragraph (1) shall not 15 apply to any office which is located in the same 16 building as a State or local office established to ac- 17 cept applications for medical assistance under title 18 XIX and benefits under the Low-Income Home En- 19 ergy Assistance Act of 1981. — 20 "(b) Responsibilities of Offices. The offices 21 described in subsection (a) shall 22 "(1) accept applications from individuals apply- 23 ing for medical assistance under title XIX and bene- 24 fits under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance 25 Act of 1981; •S 619 IS — 4 1 "(2) assist such individuals in completing such 2 applications; and 3 "(3) forward completed applications to the ap- 4 propriate State or local agency. — 5 "(c) Training. — 6 "(1) In general. Not later than 180 days 7 after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec- 8 retary, in consultation with State and local agencies, 9 shall establish a training program for the individuals 10 responsible for accepting, and assisting in the com- 11 pletion of, applications for medical assistance under 12 title XIX and benefits under the Low-Income Home 13 Energy Assistance Act of 1981. — 14 "(2) Exception. Federal employees who 15 work in the offices described in subsection (a) shall 16 not be required to complete the training program es- 17 tablished under paragraph (1) if State or local em- 18 ployees with training in accepting, and assisting in 19 the completion of, such applications are placed in 20 such offices.". 21 SEC. 102. EXPLICIT REQUIREMENTS FOR MAINTENANCE OF 22 TELEPHONE ACCESS TO LOCAL OFFICES OF 23 THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION. 24 Maintenance of Service to Local Of- (a) 25 FICES. •S 619 IS 5 — 1 (1) In general. Section 5110(a) of the Om- 2 nibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 is amended 3 by adding at the end the following new sentences: 4 "In carrying out the requirements of the preceding 5 sentence, the Secretary shall reestabhsh and main- 6 tain in service at least the same number of telephone 7 lines to each such local office as was in place as of 8 such date, including telephone sets for connections 9 to such lines." — 10 (2) Effective Date. The Secretary of 11 Health and Human Services shall ensure that the 12 requirements of the amendment made by paragraph 13 (1) are carried out no later than June 1, 1993. 14 (b) Maintenance of Toll-Free Telephone — 15 Number Service. The Secretary of Health and Human 16 Services shall ensure that toll-free telephone service pro- 17 vided by the Social Security Administration is maintained 18 at a level which is at least equal to that in effect on the 19 date of the enactment of this Act. 20 SEC. 103. RESTITUTION OF FUNDS MISAPPROPRIATED BY 21 REPRESENTATIVE PAYEES. 22 (a) In General.—Section 206(a)(5) of the Social 23 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 406(a)(5)) is amended— 24 (1) by striking "or who shall knowingly" and 25 inserting "who shall misappropriate any funds from S 619 IS 1 any claimant or prospective claimant or beneficiary 2 under this title, or who shall knowingly"; and 3 (2) by inserting ''and shall pay to such claimant 4 or prospective claimant or beneficiary an amount 5 equal to the amount of fiinds misappropriated or the 6 amount of any fee paid in excess of the maximum 7 fee" after ''or both". — 8 (b) Effective Date. The amendment made by 9 subsection (a) shall be effective on the date of the enact- 10 ment of this Act. 11 SEC. 104. USE OF BILINGUAL PERSONNEL AND PRINTED 12 MATERIAL IN ADMINISTRATION OF PRO- 13 GRAMS. 14 (a) Programs Administered by the Sec- — A 15 retary. Part of title XI of the Social Security Act 16 (42 U.S.C. 1301 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 17 the following new section: 18 "use of BILINGUAL PERSONNEL AND PRINTED 19 MATERIAL 20 "Sec. 1144. The Secretary shall use appropriate bi- 21 lingual personnel and printed material in the administra- 22 tion of programs under this Act in those portions of politi- 23 cal subdivisions in any State in which a substantial num- 24 ber of members of households speak a language other than 25 English.". •S 619 IS — 7 Programs Administered by State Agen- 1 (b) 2 CIES. AFDC— 3 (1) Section 402(a) of such Act (42 4 U.S.C. 602(a)) is amended by inserting after para- 5 graph (28) the following new paragraph: 6 "(29) provide that appropriate bilingual person- 7 nel and printed material will be used in the adminis- 8 tration of the program under this part in those por- 9 tions of political subdivisions in the State in which 10 a substantial number of members of households 11 speak a language other than English;". — 12 (2) Child welfare services. Section 13 422(b) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 622(b)) is amended— 14 (A) by striking "and" at the end of para- 15 graph (7); 16 (B) by striking the period at the end of 17 paragraph (8) and inserting and"; and 18 (C) by adding at the end the following new 19 paragraph: 20 "(9) provide that appropriate bilingual person- 21 nel and printed material will be used in the adminis- 22 tration of the program under this part in those por- 23 tions of political subdivisions in the State in which 24 a substantial number of members of households 25 speak a language other than English.". >S 619 IS 8 — 1 (3) Child support. Section 454 of such Act 2 (42 U.S.C. 654) is amended— 3 (A) by striking *'and" at the end of para- 4 graph (23); 5 (B) by striking the period at the end of 6 paragraph (24) and inserting and"; and 7 (C) by inserting after paragraph (24) the 8 following new paragraph: 9 "(25) provide that appropriate bilingual person- 10 nel and printed material will be used in the adminis- 11 tration of the program under this part in those por- 12 tions of political subdivisions in the State in which 13 a substantial number of members of households 14 speak a language other than English.". — 15 (4) Medicaid program. Section 1902(a) of 16 such Act (42 U.S.C. 1396a(a)) is amended by in- 17 serting after paragraph (28) the following new para- 18 graph: 19 ''(29) provide that appropriate bilingual person- 20 nel and printed material will be used in the adminis- 21 tration of the program under this title in those por- 22 tions of political subdivisions in the State in which 23 a substantial number of members of households 24 speak a language other than English;". — 25 (c) Effective Dates. •S 619 IS 9 — 1 (1) In general. Except as provided in para- 2 graph (2), the amendments made by subsections (a) 3 and (b) shall be effective 180 days after the date of 4 the enactment of this Act. — 5 (2) Special rule. In the case of a State plan 6 that the Secretary determines requires State legisla- 7 tion (other than legislation appropriating funds) in 8 order for the plan to meet the additional require- 9 ments imposed by the amendments made by this sec- 10 tion, the State plan shall not be regarded as failing 11 to comply with such requirements before the first 12 day of the first calendar quarter beginning after the 13 close of the first regular session of the State legisla- 14 ture that begins after the date of enactment of this 15 section. For purposes of this paragraph, in the case 16 of a State that has a 2-year legislative session, each 17 year of the session shall be treated as a separate 18 regular session of the State legislature. 19 SEC. 105. OUTREACH PROGRAM FOR SENIORS. 20 (a) In General.—Title XVI of the Social Security 21 Act (42 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.) is amended by adding at 22 the end the following new section: 23 "outreach PROGRAJVI for SENIORS 24 "Sec. 1636. (a) In General.—The Secretary shall 25 establish and conduct an ongoing program of outreach to 26 individuals who have attained age 65 and who are poten- — 10 1 tially elig:ible for benefits under this title by reason of dis- 2 ability or blindness. — 3 "(b) Requirements. Under the program eon- 4 ducted under subsection (a) the Secretary shall 5 "(1) coordinate with area agencies on aging 6 designated under section 305(a)(2)(A) of the Older 7 Americans Act of 1965, State and local govem- 8 ments, mental health systems, charity groups, and 9 cultural groups to identify individuals who are un- 10 able to get to Social Security Administration offices 11 to apply for benefits under this title; and 12 "(2) provide information on benefits under this 13 title and on other programs under which individuals 14 may be eligible for benefits including the food stamp 15 program under the Food Stamp Act of 1977, the 16 low-income home energy assistance program under 17 the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 18 1981, the medicaid program under title XTX, and 19 housing assistance programs.". — 20 (b) Effective Date. Not later than 180 days 21 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 22 of Health and Human Services shall establish the outreach 23 program required by the amendment under subsection (a). S 619 IS